Prince William and Kate: The Key to British Royals Revival

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," April 27, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: So how much pressure are Prince William and Kate under? The short answer is a lot. There is hope the royal wedding will restore a sense of pride and confidence in the monarchy or make it bigger. It represents British national identity -- many scandals have sort of rocked its image a bit.

Joining us is Peter Whittle, author of "Monarchy Matters." Nice to see you, Peter, and thank you for being here in the middle of the night.

PETER WHITTLE, AUTHOR, "MONARCHY MATTERS": It is a real experience.

VAN SUSTEREN: Indeed. How important big picture is this wedding to the monarchy?

WHITTLE: It is important, for one reason, next year we have a big event coming up the queen would have been on the throne for 60 years her diamond jubilee. This is like a curtain raiser for them this is about the future this is why it is important for the monarchy.

This is why at the same time as the wedding has been happening, as we have the build-up, you have upon polls coming out, asking people this question, who should be succeeding the queen? Should it be Charles or William? No question it will be Charles. The mere fact the question is being asked.

VAN SUSTEREN: I feel sorry for Charles on that I don't know why. Everyone talks about -- trying to push him aside. Everyone wishes he would step an at least that's what the public statements in the newspapers. I feel bad for him.

WHITTLE: Well, there's a very ambivalent attitude to Prince Charles in this country. For all the stuff that happened before with Diana and the rest of it. He's seen as being a little bit of an interferer, that he does give his views on certain things and not meant to do that.

But I think this is why this wedding is important this is about the long term future. Charles is already 64, I think. If the queen goes on, which she could do, for another 10 years that means he is not going to be king for some time yet. After that it will be William this is the future we are going to see Friday.

VAN SUSTEREN: How about Camilla, where does she come into this discussion?

WHITTLE: She doesn't, other than the fact the palace hasn't been straight with people in the sense that when Charles got married to her in 2005, I think it was, she was created Duchess of Cornwall. She is not going to be queen. She is going to be queen consort.

VAN SUSTEREN: What does that mean?

WHITTLE: It is a made-up title. It's like one notch down. It is almost without question she would not be queen. There's a fair amount of opposition to that. I can understand that. People are happy that they got married. People are happy that Charles and Camilla got married. They don't necessarily want to see her as queen.

VAN SUSTEREN: Has Prince Charles said anything about the fact that people say maybe he should step aside?

WHITTLE: He would never ever comment on that. But also, there's no chance of it. The problem is the whole point of monarchy it carries on, doesn't it, from one adult to the child or whatever. If you can start picking the person, because one happens to be more popular than the other it undermines the whole principle.

VAN SUSTEREN: Peter, thank you.